Center for American Progress Senior Fellows Gene Sperling and Daniel K. Tarullo will testify to the House Ways and Means Committee this morning on trade and globalization.
Both fellows argue that the United States is at a critical point: revolutions in information technology, accelerating participation in the global economy by China and India, and increased economic anxiety at home are all signaling the need for change. We must reexamine our trade policy and begin building consensus around a new strategy.
There is no doubt that globalization has simultaneously yielded remarkable leaps in productivity and significant increases in income inequality. Technological change and production specialization have accelerated the loss of jobs even as those new technologies create new jobs and opportunities.
In their testimonies, Sperling and Tarullo offer guidelines for ensuring that we structure our trade policy to ensure maximum benefits both at home and abroad, and prevent one privileged group from reaping all the benefits while others shoulder all the costs.
Our challenge is to manage globalization to ensure that its benefits, both at home and abroad, are not limited to one privileged group while the costs are borne by others. Trade policy cannot do all, or even most, of this work on its own. But a well-conceived and well-implemented trade policy can play an important part.
Sperling outlines four key areas where we can and should seek to move forward on trade policy, including creating a globalization and trade compact consistent with values, ensuring a domestic compact to preserve U.S. jobs and worker dignity, and moving forward on the Doha round.
Tarullo details four standards for judging a sensible trade policy, including measuring benefits for workers, consumers, and businesses; providing provisions for responsible governmental authority; and supporting the international economic system in a manner consistent with American economic and political interests.
Read Gene Sperling’s full testimony:
Read Daniel Tarullo’s full testimony: